Chapter 327: I'm back

Chapter 327: I'm back

I observe as all of the inscriptions inside Vega's eye disappear one after another. All the work the duplicate put into it is gone, along with his [Tether].

Surprisingly, his eye stays. For a moment, a golden circle appears around her pupil before it disappears, leaving her eye bloody red again. Yet, I can sense that it's the same eye that once belonged to my duplicate, the one containing our weakened trait.

The little half-demon senses the change as well, and for a moment, it looks like she's going to cry, but she holds it back and just comes to sit beside me. Without asking, she leans against me, and I put my arm around her.

“He asked me not to cry if he failed,” she says quietly.

“Did he?”

“Yes. He told me to grow strong and kick your ass sometime in the future.”

“That sounds like him. Do you feel like crying?” I ask her.

She nods, “But I promised I wouldn’t. He wouldn’t want that.”

“Bullshit,” I say, and she looks up to me. I continue, “I know for a fact, that he would be happy knowing someone had cried for him.”

I put my hand on her head and gently stroke her hair.

When she burrows her face into my chest and her body starts shaking, I continue to hold her.

An hour remains until the end of the floor when my minion asks, “Master, you still owe me for losing our bet.”

“Yes, I do. What would you like?”

“I want to know why you named me Vega. You said there was a meaning to it.”

“Who is Vega? I know only minion.”

At that, she smiles but only slightly, her mood still not back to her usual self. She pokes me, looking up at me with her big eyes.

“There are tens of constellations in the night sky where I'm from, and one of them is the northern constellation of Lyra. It's one of the smaller ones. The brightest star in that constellation is called Vega.” I grab her horn, but do not shake her head; I just prod the point with the tip of my finger.

“The tutorial is a small place, in the end, one of many. Just like the innumerable constellations, there are a number of tutorials. But in this small place, this small patch of sky, I found you,” I say, despite my embarrassment.

In my head, it never sounded so... cheesy. Still, I can’t regret telling her. To me, Vega shines brightly with her curious and cheery personality, despite her flaws. But saying it out loud just doesn’t feel right to me.

“I hope you’re happy because I’m not going to repeat myself, minion.” I need to assert my dominance to preserve my sense of masculinity.

In response, her smile widens a bit, she doesn't even poke any fun at me.

Our remaining hours on this floor pass just like that. My silly disciple has decided to cling to me, and I can feel the warmth of her small body against mine. Her heart is beating strongly. I hold her hand, and I paint a series of simple, single use, inscriptions on her forearm, they’ll be there to help her improve her mana weapons when she needs them.

This time around I’ll give her a few extra items, but nothing higher than a rare grade. Epic items seem to be exceedingly valuable even though I tend to find so many of them. Over the course of this floor and after having visited the Hard difficulty community, I have learned that out of all of them, barely anyone has access to epic grade items.

Giving one to Vega at her level could bring too much attention to her. I also think she’ll be better off if she learns how to survive without relying on items. She already has a weakened version of my trait, waiting to awaken as she grows stronger. Hopefully.

I listen as she tells me about her plans, and how she’s a little worried about having to rely on herself again. She tells me how much she will miss me and forces me to promise, for the tenth time, that I will find her when I get out of the tutorial.

Lastly, I give her a small piece of weird metal that reacts weirdly to kinetic energy. It's something I got from the auction on the 4th floor, and now it feels like so long ago.

Vega has decided to rely mainly on her kinetic energy, so she might have a better use for it. It will also force her to continuously examine it and search for anyone who might know something about it.

I figured I’d give her something like a quest since she seems to be lost at the moment.

Finally, I notice her glancing at something I can't see, and I know the portal to her world is there.

As I stand up, she lets go of me somewhat reluctantly and quickly collects the few things she is taking with her.

“Will you miss me, master?”

“I will.”

“You really will?”

“Yes.”

A few short steps and she hugs me again, “I don’t think you’re quite the asshole you like to say you are. Master is really kind, but he’s also really hurting,” the last words she nearly whispers.

Looking up at me with her red eyes glowing, she gestures to me to lean lower and when I do so, she gives me a quick peck on my cheek.

“When we meet next time, I’ll just call you Vega. So try to stay alive until then, okay?” I call to her as she takes steps toward the portal.

She gives me one last short glance, “I always liked it when master called me minion.” She says, with one last cheeky smile, and then she disappears.

Congratulations! You've successfully completed the 5th floor's main quest in the fifth round of the tutorial for Hell difficulty. An entrance to the 6th floor has been created.

I place an anchor near the portal to the 6th floor and extend my [Mana Domain], placing another outside where I emerge.

Right away, I sense strong mana radiation everywhere, and the Veil seems to be burning in the sky with veil monsters all over the place. Killing the ones that get too close, I lift off and head towards the Valley.

Then, I notice a mana signature hanging in the air, and change direction, heading towards a cliff with a good view of the area.

There, at the top, I find what remains of my duplicate.

Inside his body near the chest, I detect a hint of his mana. Pushing my emotions away, I pull a tiny mana stone out of his remains. When I probe it with my senses, I find that it’s a collection of simple notes. What few sentences my duplicate could manage to inscribe in his last moments.

Intent is bigger fucker than thought. Never trust. Wanted to kill Vega. Liar.

Ruler of Greed helped. Saved Vega. Payback?

Black mana scarier than thought.

I could kill you back then. I was stronger.

Apologize to mom. Hug Victoria for me. Be nicer to others. Fucking call them friends, at least in your head. Boop Biscuit ́s nose.

Remember me once in a while.

Tokens:

Beyond Difficulty entrance token

Shards: 59,725

Well, it seems like the system rewarded me with a skill combination token for that Floor ́s main quest, the reward that used to be ???.

“I want to sell skill upgrade token.”

Do you really want to sell the following item for 5000 shards?

Skill upgrade token

Yes/No

I confirm and my shards increase to 64,725.

It's a nice thing to have, for sure.

Then I take a better look at the place I’ve ended up, the floor known as the Astral Prison.

It's dark, the only light coming from the surprisingly bright stars. It is also totally barren. There are no trees, no vegetation, no signs of water. Just dark, rocky terrain with a lot of pointy mountains scattered about the place. In comparison to the post-apocalyptic world overgrown by vibrant vegetation, this place feels almost depressing.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I'm here.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - That's good. I will have Izzy launch a bunch of bright orbs every few minutes. Try to track us. Other than the twins, we are all here.

Noname (Hell, group 4) -Will do.

I close the community and check the floor quest.

Floor quest:

Escape Astral Prison

Rewards:

???

Epic-grade passive skill

5000 Shards

Increased daily Community limit

Communication with your disciple for 10 minutes

Send a single item to your disciple (up to a rare grade)

Once again the floor quest has turned out to be the last thing I would have expected, as have the rewards. It seems like the system is slowly limiting the amount of shards we can receive as a reward. It's either that or the last two are expensive. There are no more stat increases anymore and once again there is a question mark in place of a reward.

Is it so the system can make them more personalized? That could be it. But given the mood I'm in right now the last two rewards are what interest me the most. Fuck, the end of a floor always leaves me like this.

I sit down on the rocky ground and sigh, looking at the starry sky. Even this barren area has some beauty to it, and never in my life have I seen such big stars, much less so clearly. In one part of the sky, I can even see what appears to be a purple nebula. This night sky is beautiful.

“Use trait strengthening token on Mana Circuit,” I say, and I allow the pain that follows to take my mind off these useless thoughts. Filled with this burning sensation, I stare at the night sky.

I could have strengthened my Mana Wavelength Iris, but I haven't even mastered them properly yet, and strengthening them could be a bad idea, stripping me of all the effort I put into being able to use them as much as I do. I’m also hoping that strengthening my Mana Circuits will help me deal with my other traits and my ever-increasing Mana. So that I can continue to ignore constitution.

Who needs to worry about the attribute imbalance at this point? For sure not me, that's for future Nathaniel to deal with.

Regardless, with my body still burning, I push myself up to my feet and then lift myself into the air, looking for Isabella's orbs. There are no monsters, no wind, and no signs of civilization as far as I can see. Though the air does feel chilly, surprisingly chilly.

Sending thermal energy through my body, I hold myself in that spot for a moment, turning around, before changing my position a few times. I move in a spiral, slowly getting further from my point of origin, looking for that signal.

When I finally notice it, I start moving, pulling my items with me. It's not as much as when I entered the 5th Floor, but there are a few rather large bags.

As I approach, I trigger a web of extremely delicate mana and it sends a signal somewhere. That trigger causes a swarm of some kind of mana constructs to fly toward me in a threatening manner. They’re basically a number of small orbs with inscriptions in them, bearing an obvious connection to their owner.

Well, it seems like Sophie may have learned a thing or two.

As my altitude drops, I finally manage to spot group 4, they’re all sitting in a circle around a bright blue flame orb, which radiates a soft blue light and heat.

Tess is already standing, with a long spear in her hand and a smile on her face. I'm sure she saw me long before the others could. Her blonde hair is shorter than it was before, but she somehow looks even more confident.

Min-Jae is at her side, looking around, searching for me. He seems... older now, it's hard to describe. He just straight-up looks more mature.

Maya, who has remained seated, yawns and says something to Sophie, who just shakes her head, in spite of her smile. Both of the girls, even in this situation, are ready for anything, but they trust the others to keep watch.

Everyone seems to be happy, to be with people who’ve shared their experiences, to finally have the chance to share it all.

I feel Izzy trying to connect to me with [Empathy] and I let her, curious to learn what kind of feelings she’ll pick up from me.

(Food!) I hear Biscuit shout and even with [Focus] active, I feel a smile climb onto my lips.

When I land, Lily charges me with a few surprisingly quick steps and stops an arm's reach away from me. For a moment, I expect a slap or hug, but instead, she stands there as if waiting for me to say something.

I look to Tess for help, but she just stands there smiling at me, and beside her, stands Izzy wiping her eyes.

Back on the 1st Floor, I thought more of myself and basically ignored most of the others, ready to toss them aside. Yet, over and over again, they held their hands out to me, despite my terrible personality.

I don’t understand why; maybe they were trying to hide behind someone stronger, maybe they’re broken like me. Maybe they are just straight-up weird.

Why would you even want to befriend someone like me? I wouldn't do that. Yet somehow, we wound up like this, and I remember the words left behind by my duplicate.

For the first time in a long time, I have people I want to call friends, I guess.

“I'm back,” I say.